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Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Virginia City, Nevada

Comstock Lode

Virginia City, Nevada
is likely familiar with people because of the television show, Bonanza, or the Comstock
Lode. As men made their way across the United
States to San Francisco’s
gold rush, many traipsed over Nevada’s
mountains. Feint strains of gold were seen, but most men didn’t put much faith
into the strains containing valuable ore and pressed on to California.
But the boom of San Francisco’s
gold rush fizzled in 1859 when Pat McLaughlin and Peter O’Reilly discovered
gold at the head of Six-Mile Canyon
in Nevada. Henry Comstock was a
fellow prospector in the area and convinced the men the gold was on his
property. McLaughlin and O’Reilly believed Comstock and assured him he would
earn a place in history when the giant lode was named; hence the vein becoming
known as the Comstock Lode. The gold was followed up the
canyon where an outcropping of gold in quartz was found by another miner, James
Finney, saddled with the nickname ‘Old Virginny’. It is believed Finney honored
himself by christening a new town at the top of the gulch, Old
Virginny Town,
during a drunken celebration.

Early on the miners faced a problem when panning for the
newly discovered gold. A sticky blue-grey mud clung to axes and shovels. The
mud was assayed and found to be silver of exceptional purity, worth over $2,000
per ton. Miners swarmed the area and Nevada
became a territory in 1861. Within two years, the population of Virginny
Town soared from 4,000 to 25,000,
as saloon, hotels and various businesses sprang quickly into existence. Miners
struck it rich and built their own mansions, importing furniture and fashion
from Europe and the Orient. In the mix of this, Virginny
Town was renamed Virginia
City and became as important as Denver
and San Francisco, with a
reputation similar to modern day New York City.
It was the town that never slept. Morning, noon
and night, something was always going on above and below ground.

Comstock Minors

The rapid growth spurt of Virginia City
produced the building of the Virginia-Truckee Railroad, which shuttled folks
from Reno to Carson
City to Virginia City.
Investments made in the Comstock ignited the building of San
Francisco. Among those striking it rich were Ralston
and Crocker, founders of the Bank of California, Leland Stanford and George
Hearst. Eventually, the gold mixed with the high quality of silver caught
President Lincoln’s interest. He needed both to keep the Union solvent and made
Nevada a state even though the
population wasn’t enough for the land to qualify as a state. By the 1870’s, the
Comstock Lode had produced enough money to help finance the Civil War and
bolster the value of the Union’s greenbacks.

The MacKay--Present Day

Virginia City’s population began to decline
in 1877. In 1930, about 500 people remained. The city remains in existence
today and is one of the largest federally designated historical sites in America.
Many of the original buildings and homes are intact, most notably the Castle,
the MacKay and the Savage. The Virginia-Truckee Railroad once again runs from Virginia
City to Gold Hill.

****While my teachers briefly touched on the Comstock
Lode in history classes, I gained a better knowledge for the
silver mines in Nevada while
researching Lady Luck. William Larsen is the villain in Lady Luck. Having grown
up in poverty, William is now a prominent San Francisco
banker, having gained his riches by stealing from his late boss and from the customers
at his bank. But the wealth and power he’s accumulated isn’t enough to satisfy
the memory of his cruel beginnings. He wants more and hopes to gain it by
joining forces with those backing the Comstock Lode.
However, he needs more cash than he has on hand to throw in with them, hence
his quest to take possession of Lady Luck, the notorious gaming ship
permanently dry-docked along the Barbary Coast.

6 comments:

I had a great time in Virginia City. We took a mine tour, watched the gunfight, and lost lots of quarters in the slot machines. I especially liked the prostitution museum, which contained items that are utterly baffling but fascinating, too.

Hi Jacquie: Sadly, I've never visited most of the places I write or blog about. Would enjoy a trip to Virginia City to learn more about its history. I keep telling the hubby and kiddo next year we're going to Dodge. It's not too far from me, but they both look at me like I'm crazy.

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